Reverse of a Ruin
Laura Plageman
Sept. 13 - Nov. 1, 2025
Artist’s Reception: Sat. Sept. 20, 2-5pm
With artist’s talk at 3pm
August Complex
2021
Pigment print
37.5” x 50”
The Fourth Wall gallery is pleased to present work by Laura Plageman, who reworks her photographs into layered compositions where fragments remain visible, presenting landscapes as unsettled and continuously remade.
Plageman writes: “Photography grounds me in the present moment—in noticing light, textures, and the immediate world I’m moving through. At the same time, I’m aware of larger scales: geological deep time, the brevity of human life, and the invisible histories that places hold but rarely reveal.
Reverse of a Ruin emerges from this dual awareness. I rework and layer my photographs, combining multiple moments to resist the single viewpoint. Fragments often migrate across works—a piece of rock, a cluster of leaves—gaining and losing meaning as they float between contexts. Palm fronds dissolve into architectural patterns, and coastlines become uncertain negotiations between elements.
These works explore how it feels to encounter landscapes shaped by unseen histories: geological forces, ancient sediments, traces of past inhabitants, and the absence of those who left no mark. They suggest landscapes as unsettled and continuously remade through time, human presence, and the act of photographing itself.” Laura Plageman 2025
Vernal Equinox
2025
Pigment print
30” x 22”
Joshua Tree
2021
Pigment print
30” x 40”
2021
Wave Interference
2021
Pigment print
30” x 22”
Laura Plageman creates photographic works that explore transformation, perception, and our relationship to the natural world. Working across digital and physical processes, she reshapes photographs into layered images that hover between representation and abstraction, reflecting on how places and images are never fixed.
Plageman earned a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from California College of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the de Young Museum, the Houston Center for Photography, and the Bolinas Museum. Her photographs are included in the permanent collection of LACMA and have been featured in Harper’s Magazine, WIRED, and other publications. She lives and works in Oakland, California.